Lawyer’S Behaviour May Be Basis Of Killer’S Appeal

LAWYERS arguing the appeal of a man condemned to death for the murder of an 11-year-old boy may raise the conduct of the trial lawyer as a grounds for appeal of a jury’s guilty verdict.

Kofhe Goodman appeared before Justices Anita Allen, Neville Adderley and Jon Isaacs yesterday for the expected hearing into his appeal against conviction and sentence concerning the September 2011 murder of Marco Archer of Brougham Street.

Goodman is seeking a deferment of a retrial if the court were to allow the appeal against his murder conviction and death sentence on the grounds of publicity affecting the case.

In yesterday’s proceedings, Wayne Munroe, QC, informed the presiding justices that his team, inclusive of Tommel Roker and Ryszard Humes, was unable to complete submissions on certain grounds on which they intended to rely.

The uncompleted submissions concern the conduct of Goodman’s lawyer at the trial before Justice Bernard Turner.

The appellate court told Mr Munroe that he would have to produce an affidavit from Goodman’s former attorney, Geoffrey Farquharson, for his response given that his conduct was possibly being called into question.

Mr Munroe said he would proceed with caution and sought to avoid contention.

Regarding other matters concerning the appeal, Mr Munroe was instructed to serve his amended notice of appeal to the court and Crown respondents on or before May 14.

Garvin Gaskin and Neil Braithwate, acting director and assistant director of public prosecutions respectively, were instructed to file their responses on June 15, the same day that Mr Munroe must produce a transcript index for the court.

The substantive hearing, Justice Allen added, will take place on July 6.

The appellate court put the new transcript index measure in place, effective from January 23, due to cases like Goodman’s, whose trial lasted four months and had transcripts exceeding 1,000 pages.